Voice of Reason
by guinisee
Summary: Yukino gives Natsuki a push in the right direction the year after the carnival. ShizNat


_Just a short little bit of a thing that's been sitting in a folder for too long. R&R if you please._

She walked to the left.

She walked to the right.

She walked and walked, never moving more than three paces from the front desk.

It would've been almost funny to watch Yukino pace back and forth with such a scowl fixed in her features, but considering the new Executive Director at Fuuka had never been seen wearing anything more severe than a mild frown, Natsuki was a little nervous to hear what would come out of her mouth when she finally calmed enough to speak.

When the short brunette had first dragged Natsuki into the student council room, she'd seemed determined to speak her mind, not angry but resigned. Unfortunately, right as she opened her mouth to begin, Shizuru had stepped in to retrieve her bag, and everyone knew how _those_ two got along after the carnival. Ever since Shizuru had, well, _killed_ Haruka, Yukino had dropped all honorifics and just called her 'Shizuru.' Yukino of all people! Shizuru almost looked bashful in her presence. To say the least, the Director's mood had turned for the worse at her appearance. Instead of saying what she'd previously intended, she'd stood frozen for a minute before starting to pace angrily.

That was ten minutes ago. Every few minutes she would pause for a moment and press a finger to her ear, looking up wistfully before shaking her head no to something or other and resuming her pacing.

Natsuki was supposed to meet Mai a couple of minutes ago, but she'd been a tad too fearful to speak up. Sure, she could face a couple of killers or a murderous child without blinking, but a mouse like Yukino turned into a raging fire? Hell no. That was just too disturbing. Still, Mai was making dinner for the lot of them, and at a certain point the stomach wins out above all else, life included.

"Um, Yukino-san?" the biker called, sounding awkward and slightly strangled. The shorter girl rounded on her, glaring at her heavily for a moment. Natsuki seemed to shrink.

"Haruka-" Yukino started to speak, stopping abruptly to heave a deep sigh before continuing in a much softer tenor. "Haruka-chan rarely ever speaks of the possibility that justice cannot be delivered." She pinched the bridge of her nose, apparently frustrated with herself. "But when she does, she always says the same thing: better to right the wrong than wrong the right."

Natsuki was mildly confused, but she considered this type of confusion to be progress relative to the deeply uncomfortable silence from before.

Thumb and forefinger still perched on her nose, Yukino looked sharply at Natsuki. "You were aware that the size of your child directly corresponded with the feelings you harbored towards your most important person, yes?"

"Yeah…"

"And you were aware that your child, Duran, was one of the largest of the thirteen?"

"Thirteen?"

"With Alyssa-chan's."

"Oh, yeah…yeah, towards the end, I guess…"

"In fact, yours was one of the three largest, the others being Mai's and Shizuru's?"

"I…guess?"

"That yours was actually AS LARGE as theirs? Neither smaller nor larger?"

"Yeah…" Natsuki's brow was fully furrowed by this point. She had no idea where Yukino was going with her questions. "What's your point?"

Yukino continued as if Natsuki hadn't asked, growing slightly more agitated by the second. "And you also realize that both Mai and Shizuru were in love with their most important persons by the end?"

"Yeah…" Natsuki fidgeted a little. She was getting a foreboding feeling…

"Then how on earth did you miss the part where you're in love with yours!"

"Oh…I…uh…Yukino…"

"Don't you Yukino me! I may be a small, geeky, unintimidating little person, but I _see_ things. And you are about as obvious and oblivious as it gets, both!"

"…" Natsuki was a shade of tomato almost worthy of a Shizuru tease.

"Now you are going to go to that surprise karaoke party-"

"Karaoke!"

"Yes, surprise karaoke party, and you're going to go up to Shizuru, and-"

"-nononono, not karaoke!-"

"-kiss her like you should have long before now-" Yukino would have continued further, but something in Natsuki's facial expression stopped her.

"Kiss Shizuru?" she whispered. "Kiss…" she put her fingers to her lips, "Shizuru?" She paused, "Yeah…I think I could…I could do that again…yeah…Thanks Yukino." Natsuki strode out the door before Yukino could move another muscle.

"Again…?" Yukino deflated slightly, but she smiled.

_"Oh, good, so she's not entirely useless."_ Yukino quickly put a finger up to her ear so she could hear the voice through the earpiece more clearly.

"Haruka-chan! Don't say that. She just a little…slow…at times."

_"Useless, slow…same thing in my book. Anyhow, great job in there, Yukino! You had a point, and you made Natsuki listen. Very good!"_

"You really think so?"

_"Of course I do! Next time, though, we should work on using some firm hand-jesters to-"_

"Gestures, Haruka-chan."

_"Yes, that's what I said, using some firm hand-jesters to really pound the point home…"_ Yukino smiled lightly and settled in for a long talk with her best friend.


End file.
